AFI Silver Theatre Weekly Programming Update (as of Friday, April 15, 2016)
Tickets and full calendar at AFI.com/Silver
Just Announced...
OPENING FRIDAY, APRIL 22: THE INVITATION
In this taut psychological thriller by Karyn Kusama (GIRLFIGHT, JENNIFER’S BODY) the tension is palpable when Will (Logan Marshall-Green, PROMETHEUS) shows up to a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard, INTO THE WOODS) and her new husband David (Michiel Huisman, GAME OF THRONES.) The estranged divorcees’ tragic past haunts an equally eerie present; amid Eden’s suspicious behavior and her mysterious house guests, Will becomes convinced that his invitation was extended with a hidden agenda. Unfolding over one dark evening in the Hollywood Hills, THE INVITATION blurs layers of mounting paranoia, mystery and horror until both Will and the audience are unsure what threats are real or imaginary.
OPENING FRIDAY, APRIL 29: SING STREET
SING STREET takes us back to 1980s Dublin as seen through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy named Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo.) Looking for a break from a home strained by his parents’ relationship and money troubles, he is also trying to adjust to his new inner-city public school, where the kids are rough and the teachers are rougher. He finds a glimmer of hope in the mysterious, cool and beautiful Raphina (Lucy Boynton) and with the aim of winning her heart he invites her to star in his band’s music videos. There’s only one problem: he’s not part of a band…yet. She agrees, and now Conor must deliver what he’s promised. Assuming the stage name "Cosmo," Conor immerses himself in the vibrant rock music trends of the decade, forms a band with a few lads and the group pours their heart into writing lyrics and shooting videos. Inspired by writer/director John Carney’s (BEGIN AGAIN, ONCE) life and love of music, SING STREET shows a world where music has the power to take us away from the turmoil of everyday life and transform it into something greater.
Current First Run:
SPECIAL EVENTS, SERIES & ENGAGEMENTS THIS WEEK:
Tickets and full calendar at AFI.com/Silver
Just Announced...
OPENING FRIDAY, APRIL 22: THE INVITATION
In this taut psychological thriller by Karyn Kusama (GIRLFIGHT, JENNIFER’S BODY) the tension is palpable when Will (Logan Marshall-Green, PROMETHEUS) shows up to a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard, INTO THE WOODS) and her new husband David (Michiel Huisman, GAME OF THRONES.) The estranged divorcees’ tragic past haunts an equally eerie present; amid Eden’s suspicious behavior and her mysterious house guests, Will becomes convinced that his invitation was extended with a hidden agenda. Unfolding over one dark evening in the Hollywood Hills, THE INVITATION blurs layers of mounting paranoia, mystery and horror until both Will and the audience are unsure what threats are real or imaginary.
OPENING FRIDAY, APRIL 29: SING STREET
SING STREET takes us back to 1980s Dublin as seen through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy named Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo.) Looking for a break from a home strained by his parents’ relationship and money troubles, he is also trying to adjust to his new inner-city public school, where the kids are rough and the teachers are rougher. He finds a glimmer of hope in the mysterious, cool and beautiful Raphina (Lucy Boynton) and with the aim of winning her heart he invites her to star in his band’s music videos. There’s only one problem: he’s not part of a band…yet. She agrees, and now Conor must deliver what he’s promised. Assuming the stage name "Cosmo," Conor immerses himself in the vibrant rock music trends of the decade, forms a band with a few lads and the group pours their heart into writing lyrics and shooting videos. Inspired by writer/director John Carney’s (BEGIN AGAIN, ONCE) life and love of music, SING STREET shows a world where music has the power to take us away from the turmoil of everyday life and transform it into something greater.
Current First Run:
In this sci-fi thriller, writer/director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) proves again that he is one of the most compelling storytellers of our time, as a father (Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road) goes on the run to protect his young son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher, St. Vincent) and uncover the truth behind the boy's special powers. What starts as a race from religious extremists and local law enforcement quickly escalates to a nationwide manhunt involving the highest levels of the federal government. Ultimately, his father risks everything to protect Alton and help fulfill a destiny that could change the world forever, in this genre-defying film - as supernatural as it is intimately human. The film also stars Joel Edgerton (Black Mass) Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man, Marie Antoinette) Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, TV's Girls) and Sam Shepard (Black Hawk Down, August: Osage County.)
Inspired by events in his life, this is a wildly entertaining, impressionistic, no-holds-barred portrait of one of 20th-century music’s creative geniuses, Miles Davis, featuring a career-defining performance by Don Cheadle in the title role. Working from a script he co-wrote with Steven Baigelman, Cheadle makes his bravura directorial debut.
In the midst of a dazzling and prolific career at the forefront of modern jazz innovation, Miles Davis (Cheadle) virtually disappears from public view for a period of five years in the late 1970s. Alone and holed up in his home, he is beset by chronic pain from a deteriorating hip, his musical voice stifled and numbed by drugs and pain medications, his mind haunted by unsettling ghosts from the past. A wily music reporter (Ewan McGregor) forces his way into Davis’ house and, over the next couple of days, the two men unwittingly embark on a wild and sometimes harrowing adventure to recover a stolen tape of the musician’s latest compositions.
Davis’ mercurial behavior is fueled by memories of his failed marriage to the talented and beautiful dancer Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi.) During their romance and subsequent marriage, Taylor served as Davis’ muse. It was during this period that he released several of his signature recordings, including the groundbreaking "Sketches of Spain" and "Someday My Prince Will Come." The idyll was short-lived; their eight-year marriage was marked by infidelity and abuse, and Taylor was forced to flee for her own safety as Miles’ mental and physical health deteriorated. By the late ‘70s, plagued by years of regret and loss, Davis flirts with annihilation until he once again finds salvation in his art.
SPECIAL EVENTS, SERIES & ENGAGEMENTS THIS WEEK:
TAKEN BY STORM: THE ART OF STORM THORGERSON AND HIPGNOSIS
Q&A with director Roddy Bogawa
Fri, April 15, 7:00 PM
This is a documentary portrait of graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, famous for his visionary album cover artwork for design outfit Hipgnosis. A childhood friend of members of Pink Floyd, Thorgerson designed several of their most iconic album covers, including "Dark Side of the Moon," "Wish You Were Here" and "Ummagumma." He created album covers for Black Sabbath, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, The Mars Volta, Muse, Phish and Catherine Wheel, among many others. Thorgerson died on April 18, 2013, not long after this film was completed. Record Store Day is a timely occasion to look back at this extraordinary individual's life and work. DIR/PROD Roddy Bogawa; PROD Rob Roth, Orian Williams. U.S./UK, 2013, color, 95 min. NOT RATED
THE PENALTY (1920)
Live musical accompaniment by William Hooker
Sat, April 16, 7:30 PM
"Lon Chaney ascended from character actor to Hollywood's only character star," said biographer Michael Blake. A doctor's careless mistake costs Blizzard (Chaney) both of his legs. Incensed by this cruel fate, Blizzard seeks revenge on the world by pursuing a criminal career, in time rising to the top of San Francisco's underworld. This position offers him considerable power and eventually the opportunity to take revenge on the very man who maimed him. DIR Wallace Worsley; SCR Charles Kenyon, Philip Lonergan, Gouverneur Morris from his novel; PROD Samuel Goldwyn. U.S., 1920, B&W, 90 min. Silent with live accompaniment. NOT RATED
A PAGE OF MADNESS (1926)
Live musical accompaniment by William Hooker
Sat, April 16, 9:45 PM
Teinosuke Kinugasa's 1926 film is a landmark of avant-garde cinema, employing freewheeling montage, double-exposed images and famously forgoing the use of any intertitles to convey its moody, impressionistic tale of love and madness. A sailor takes a job in the asylum where his wife has been committed after she drowned their son, in the hope of rescuing her. Teinosuke co-authored the script with, among others, future Nobel Prize-winning author Yasunari Kawabata ("Snow Country"). DIR/SCR Teinosuke Kinugasa; SCR Yasunari Kawabata, Minoru Inuzuka, Bankô Sawada. Japan, 1926, B&W, 60 min. Silent with live accompaniment. NOT RATED
From the collection of George Eastman Museum
WITHIN OUR GATES (1920)
Live musical accompaniment by William Hooker Ensemble
Sun, April 17, 3:00 PM
Oscar Micheaux's powerful drama is the oldest known surviving film by an African American filmmaker. A black schoolteacher, Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer) leaves her Southern home for the North in an effort to raise funds for her school. On her journey, she experiences hardships, duplicity and amazing reversals of fortune. A new romance blooms with Dr. Vivian who, hearing about Sylvia's family life in the segregated South, is reminded of the murder and injustice whites have inflicted on blacks for generations. Micheaux intended this film to be a riposte to D. W. Griffith's race-baiting THE BIRTH OF A NATION, a blockbuster hit in 1915. DIR/SCR/PROD Oscar Micheaux. U.S., 1920, B&W, 79 min. NOT RATED
Preserved by the Library of Congress
Q&A with director Roddy Bogawa
Fri, April 15, 7:00 PM
This is a documentary portrait of graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, famous for his visionary album cover artwork for design outfit Hipgnosis. A childhood friend of members of Pink Floyd, Thorgerson designed several of their most iconic album covers, including "Dark Side of the Moon," "Wish You Were Here" and "Ummagumma." He created album covers for Black Sabbath, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, The Mars Volta, Muse, Phish and Catherine Wheel, among many others. Thorgerson died on April 18, 2013, not long after this film was completed. Record Store Day is a timely occasion to look back at this extraordinary individual's life and work. DIR/PROD Roddy Bogawa; PROD Rob Roth, Orian Williams. U.S./UK, 2013, color, 95 min. NOT RATED
THE PENALTY (1920)
Live musical accompaniment by William Hooker
Sat, April 16, 7:30 PM
"Lon Chaney ascended from character actor to Hollywood's only character star," said biographer Michael Blake. A doctor's careless mistake costs Blizzard (Chaney) both of his legs. Incensed by this cruel fate, Blizzard seeks revenge on the world by pursuing a criminal career, in time rising to the top of San Francisco's underworld. This position offers him considerable power and eventually the opportunity to take revenge on the very man who maimed him. DIR Wallace Worsley; SCR Charles Kenyon, Philip Lonergan, Gouverneur Morris from his novel; PROD Samuel Goldwyn. U.S., 1920, B&W, 90 min. Silent with live accompaniment. NOT RATED
A PAGE OF MADNESS (1926)
Live musical accompaniment by William Hooker
Sat, April 16, 9:45 PM
Teinosuke Kinugasa's 1926 film is a landmark of avant-garde cinema, employing freewheeling montage, double-exposed images and famously forgoing the use of any intertitles to convey its moody, impressionistic tale of love and madness. A sailor takes a job in the asylum where his wife has been committed after she drowned their son, in the hope of rescuing her. Teinosuke co-authored the script with, among others, future Nobel Prize-winning author Yasunari Kawabata ("Snow Country"). DIR/SCR Teinosuke Kinugasa; SCR Yasunari Kawabata, Minoru Inuzuka, Bankô Sawada. Japan, 1926, B&W, 60 min. Silent with live accompaniment. NOT RATED
From the collection of George Eastman Museum
WITHIN OUR GATES (1920)
Live musical accompaniment by William Hooker Ensemble
Sun, April 17, 3:00 PM
Oscar Micheaux's powerful drama is the oldest known surviving film by an African American filmmaker. A black schoolteacher, Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer) leaves her Southern home for the North in an effort to raise funds for her school. On her journey, she experiences hardships, duplicity and amazing reversals of fortune. A new romance blooms with Dr. Vivian who, hearing about Sylvia's family life in the segregated South, is reminded of the murder and injustice whites have inflicted on blacks for generations. Micheaux intended this film to be a riposte to D. W. Griffith's race-baiting THE BIRTH OF A NATION, a blockbuster hit in 1915. DIR/SCR/PROD Oscar Micheaux. U.S., 1920, B&W, 79 min. NOT RATED
Preserved by the Library of Congress
